A federal criminal defense attorney said there was a chance that cases worked on by San Pasqual Tribal Police Chief Christoper Palomares, could face legal challenges – potentially even overturning past convictions.
That comes less than a day after NBC 7 Investigates reported on a controversial September 2025 traffic stop involving Palomares, who was a corporal at the time. During that incident, body worn camera video shows Palomares press his gun to the neck of a handcuffed 15-year-old boy.
Though Palomares’ own police report said two ghost guns and a small amount of cocaine were confiscated, none of the four suspects have been prosecuted in the almost eleven months since. The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office told us the San Pasqual Tribal Police never sent them any cases, and the tribe said there was an ongoing investigation.
In our first report, NBC 7 Investigates discovered the search warrant affidavit filed by Palomares, involving the suspects’ cell phones, had false information. In that document, Palomares wrote:
“In 2006, your affiant received a Basic Peace Officer Training Certificate from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)…”
As a tribal police officer, he’s not required to have a POST certification.
NBC 7 Investigates obtained Palomares’ records from POST. They reveal that he’s never earned a basic peace officer certificate, which we confirmed with POST.
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On the left, an affidavit search warrant filed by Christopher Palomares indicates he has a basic police officer training certificate from Post. On the right, Palomares’ POST records show he’s never received any certificates.
POST told us, “He is not eligible to receive any POST certificates.If he had been appointed as a full-time peace officer, completed a 12-month probationary period, and a Field Training Program at a POST-participating agency, he would have been eligible for a Basic Certificate because he did complete each level of the modular academy. However, he was only hired for four months as a Level II Reserve and therefore was not eligible for a POST certificate.”
Both Palomares and Tribal Chairman Stephen Cope declined our repeated requests to talk about the traffic stop. They also wouldn’t answer questions about the POST certification Palomares wrote about in the search warrant.
The potential impact on past cases
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San Pasqual Tribal Police Chief Christopher Palomares’ ID card from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Federal criminal defense attorney Isaac Blumberg watched our first report and the leaked body camera video. He says the ramifications of this traffic stop could jeopardize past criminal cases.
“I think he’s going to have some serious credibility issues going forward.” Blumberg said.
Blumberg said it could trigger a potential review by the district attorney’s office.
He explained that generally, if an officer is found to have lied to a judge, it could earn them a spot on the Brady List.
That means prosecutors would have to flag that information to defense attorneys involved in any active cases involving that officer, and go back in time and alert attorneys who worked on any past cases involving the officer. Blumberg said that could prompt those attorneys to challenge convictions for anyone that officer helped convict.
“That could be used because then some defense lawyer, if they’re ever cross-examining the officer relevant to their case, they would be allowed to ask, ‘So you’re saying that this occurred, but previously you said that occurred and that was a lie. So you’ve lied to a judge before,’” Blumberg told us.
NBC 7 Investigates also reached out to the district attorney’s office to see if they intended to investigate the issue of the false information within the affidavit to determine whether it justified inclusion for the Brady List. a spokesperson shared this statement:
“The credibility of law enforcement is an essential component of the criminal justice system and critical for public trust. While we can’t comment specifically about this case, we take very seriously reports involving officer credibility and always carefully evaluate them in accordance with Brady and other laws.”
Previously, a district attorney spokesperson told us that the FBI is investigating the arrest incident captured on the bodycam footage, and the district attorney would review for criminal charges if a case is submitted to their office rather than to federal prosecutors.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office also said the FBI was investigating, though a spokesman for the FBI San Diego Field Office said it wouldn’t confirm the existence of any federal investigation. Though, they said they were aware of the incident.
The controversial traffic stop
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NBC 7 Investigates obtained body worn camera video of San Pasqual Tribal Police’s Christopher Palomares, which appears to show him put a gun to the neck of a handcuffed 15-year-old Mathew Kirby Jr.
NBC 7 Investigates was given Palomares’ body camera video and case documents for that September stop, which include police reports, evidence forms, a search warrant, and tribal citations.
Those documents reveal the reason for the traffic stop – license plate cameras connected the vehicle to being near a drive-by shooting two nights prior. On the night of the traffic stop, Palomares’ report also said the driver ran a stop sign.
Inside the car were two 19-year-olds and two-15-year-olds, which included Mathew Kirby Jr. After a few minutes of questioning from Palomares, away from his friends, the adult driver revealed there may have been a gun inside the car.
Palomares then had the other officers remove Kirby Jr. and his friends from the car one-by-one. The video shows each appearing to cooperate with the orders from officers as they were handcuffed, searched, and questioned.
The tone changed moments later, as the officer searching Kirby Jr. announced he found a handgun on the teen.
“We got a gun,” the officer said. “We got a gun.”
Palomares was a few feet away, beginning a search of the car. He rushed to join the officer searching Kirby Jr.
In the video, Palomares draws his own gun and presses it against the 15-year-old’s neck.
“You move, I’ll [expletive] kill you!” Palomares said. “You hear me?”
NBC 7 Investigates obtained body worn camera video of San Pasqual Tribal Police’s Christopher Palomares, which appears to show him put a gun to the neck of a handcuffed 15-year-old.The teen and his family agreed to allow his face to be shown, though we’ve blurred the other suspects’ faces because there’s no evidence any of them were prosecuted.
Kirby Jr.: “I’m a minor by the way.”
Palomares: “How old are you?”
Kirby Jr.: “Fifteen.”
Palomares: “Ok, well, you’re going to be a dead 15-year-old if you move.”
Kirby Jr.: “Is it allowed to tell me that?”
Palomares: “What! What did you say?”
Kirby Jr.: ‘Nothing sir.”
Palomares: “Get on the ground! Get on your [expletive] face.”
Before he finishes that sentence, the video shows the other officer appear to remove a handgun from Kirby Jr.’s pants. We have not obtained body camera video, if such a video exists, from the officer who appears to remove the gun.
NBC 7 Investigates asked the department and the tribal chairman for all officer body camera videos from the stop, but they denied our request citing an ongoing investigation into the four suspects.